This Day in History June 25

1128 Battle of São Mamede, near Guimarães. Portuguese forces led by Alfonso I defeat his mother D.Teresa and D.Fernão Peres de Trava. After this battle, the future king calls himself “Prince of Portugal”, the first step towards “official independence” in 1143.

1244 Birth of Henry I of Hesse (d. 1308)

1292 Graf Adolf von Nassau is crowned German King at Aachen.

1314 Battle of Bannockburn: Robert the Bruce leads Scots to regain independence from England with victory at Bannockburn.

1314 End of the Battle of Bannockburn. Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce defeat Edward II of England. Scotland regains its independence.

1322 Jews are expelled from France.

1340 Birth of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (d. 1399)

1340 Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Sluys The French fleet was almost totally destroyed by the English Fleet commanded in person by Edward III of England.

1374 A sudden outbreak of St. John’s Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion.

1386 Birth of Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (d. 1456)

1398 Death of Hongwu Emperor of China (b. 1328)

1439 Death of Duke Frederick IV of Austria (b. 1382)

1441 Eton College founded.

1441 Eton College founded by Henry VI.

1485 Birth of Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (d. 1558)

1497 Cornish traitors Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank executed at Tyburn, London

1497 John Cabot claims eastern Canada for England.

1497 John Cabot lands on North America in Newfoundland; first European exploration of the region since the Vikings.

1509 Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon crowned King and Queen of England.

1509 Henry VIII crowned King of England.

1519 Birth of Theodore Beza, French theologian (d. 1605)

1519 Death of Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (b. 1480)

1520 Death of Hosokawa Sumimoto, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1489)

1532 Birth of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (d. 1588)

1996 Michael Johnson breaks the world record in the 200 metres with a time of 19.66 seconds

1997 Death of Brian Keith, American actor (born 1921).

2000 Death of David Tomlinson, English actor (born 1917).

2002 Death of Pierre Werner, Prime Minister of Luxembourg (born 1913).

2002 The Igandu train disaster in Dodoma Region, Tanzania, kills 281 people in the worst rail accident in African history.

2003 Death of Maynard Jackson, Mayor of Atlanta (b. 1938)

2004 Death of Ifigeneia Giannopoulou, Greek songwriter (b. 1957)

2004 Habib Dodo, the general secretary of the Communist Youth of Côte d’Ivoire is assassinated by pro-government forces.

2005 Death of Paul Winchell, American voice actor and ventriloquist (b. 1922)

2006 Death of Patsy Ramsey, Mother of slain 6-year-old JonBenet (born 1956).

2007 A wildfire starts in South Lake Tahoe eventually destroying 254 homes in the area.

2007 Death of Derek Dougan, Northern Irish football player (born 1938).

2007 The refurbished Millennium Dome, now called The O2, reopens in London, England.

2008 Death of Leonid Hurwicz, American economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917).

2009 Death of RomTo LeBlanc, 25th governor general of Canada (1995-1999), in New Brunswick, at age 81.

2009 In Iraq, a bomb explodes in a crowded market in Baghdad’s main Shia district, Sadr City, killing at least 72 people and wounding 127.

2010 American tennis player John Isner defeats Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68 in their first-round encounter at Wimbledon. The longest match in history took 11 hours and five minutes over three days. The game broke the previous records for the longest match, the longest set, the most games in a set and a match, the most aces in a match and the most aces by a player.

2010 Julia Gillard is sworn in as Australia’s first female prime minister after a leadership vote in the Labor Party ousts Kevin Rudd. Gillard was deputy prime minister to Rudd.